Weekends with Friends

Can I just say (again) that I am so very thankful that we have met such sweet friends here! We have become Insta-friends... The moms/kids are able to get together several times a week-which is a HUGE blessing to me, and it is drastically improving my outlook on being so far away from friends and family in the states! I have tried not to dwell on that too much on the blog...but, as you know, I am a "fairly" social person...and it is quite challenging being in a 624 square foot apartment with an 8 year old all day!!! I think it is fair to add that she has to be in this space with me too--away from school and all of her friends as well:) So it is awesome to meet a family who is in a similar boat! Thank you God for that blessing!!
Plus, Eden gets the experience of having a little brother around (which is hilarious to me). She is really cute with him, she tries to pick him up and carry him-which is funny because he is almost 3.. the other day we were at the park together and she played chase with him so that he didn't feel left out. Very sweet! She and her friend  Emma are precious together!  Emma is such a sweet girl and I am thankful that they get along!  I am enjoying having a friend to both hang out with and " talk shop"! I still think it is so cool that we are both Speech Pathologists:)
Last weekend they had us over for a chili dinner...and then this past  Friday night we had them over for some good ol' Pizza Hut.  Saturday our families spent most of the day together, shopping, walking around freezing together (it was sunny but sooooo cold!) and then ended the evening at a restaurant called Breakfast in America...Michael was craving a burger, and they had heard of this restaurant/diner. It was quite good! It kind of reminds me of a Denny's menu- you can get breakfast or burger type stuff.  Eden enjoyed a pancake, while we got burgers/fries. It's funny, if we were here on vacation, we would not have eaten at such a place, but when you are actually living here-you really miss certain foods!  Can you detect a theme?? The Oelzes love to eat!!!
I am putting some pictures from our adventure yesterday on here...Most of these pictures are also on Facebook too, but some of our friends are not on Facebook...so I am also putting them on here!

Children's Science Museum

Last Sunday, our family met up with Michael's host and her daughter. We had planned to go to an outdoor park, but it was way too cold! Plan B was a interactive children's science museum. I felt a little left out tagging along with 2 physicists to a science museum...but we all had fun anyway:) I am pretty sure that my husband had as much fun as Eden and Camille:)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outside of the museum

Eden and her French friend Camille

Eden with a giant yo yo

American products

On Tuesday, we met up with our new friends to visit a store called McCoy's that sells American products in Paris...these are things that are very hard to find here...and you know I have tried! The "store" was closed, but we went to the McCoy cafe (owned by the same company) where you can buy the same products. I finally found a package of Crisco for a whopping 8 euros (which is $10.89), baking soda for 6 euros ($8.16), cream of tartar ($3 for 6 tsp) plus a few other things that are being rationed out! I really wanted to go a little crazy in there buying all of the things that our family has been missing...but I held back:) I had to share this funny fact too--(because I thought it was wild)...My friend Megan found a 12 pack of A & W root beer--for almost $40!! ... we didn't buy that:) We also found some cereals that are rare here...a box of Life cereal, Cheerios, or Fruit Loops are 9 to12 euros per box (or $11 to $16)...we didn't buy those either.

On this  little adventure, Megan, the kids and I also discovered the coolest little street that had a great restaurant and some fabulous shops! We will have to go back another time because...it was pouring rain (again) and we had 3 kiddos with us...but when it warms up a bit--we want to go back!

That is all for now...

Concert

Michael got tickets for us to go to the orchestra on Sunday! He picked a program that was specifically for children--to make it more interesting for Eden...but...she was bored to tears! She kept asking how much longer...oh well, we tried.  In her defense, the conductor was probably really good-but he talked A LOT and the whole program was in French, so we couldn't understand any of it. The music that we heard was nice though...maybe we will try again--or maybe Michael will go by himself:)

our tickets

Mommy and Eden

Before

Daddy and Eden

Silly family picture

the choir

the full orchestra and choir

New Friends

We have been blessed to make some new American friends! One of my friends from college noticed my posts on Facebook and messaged me to tell me that she had friends also living in Paris. We exchanged info and on Thursday, Eden and I went on our first "solo" Metro ride to the suburbs to visit them at their apartment. They have lived here since October and have a little girl and a little boy.
We have had so much fun! It has been nice to have someone who has lived here a bit and understands some of the frustrations of living in a foreign country. My new friend is also a speech pathologist (which is awesome!!!), and they are also doing schooling at home with their daughter--what are the odds? We all hit it off!! So on Friday we got together again, then the husbands joined us and we all went to dinner. We met up again on Saturday to go to Notre Dame and then the library. They knew of a good Mexican restaurant, so we all went to dinner for a second night in a row!! (The Mexican food was really good-- for France)

Here are some pictures of the girls:

The girls on a bridge near Notre Dame

Playing at Notre Dame

Notre Dame

 Here are some pictures of amazing and beautiful Notre Dame. We were all in awe...